Prophecy and Martyrdom. Martyrdom Experience in the Latin American Church in the Light of Rev 11:1-13

Abstract

In order to understand appropriately the phenomenon of persecutions and martyrdom in the Latin American Church, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century, we have to refer to persecutions Christians suffered during the first centuries. But it is also necessary to consider a few characteristic elements of the contemporary martyrdom experience. Among these elements, in this article we propose to put in evidence the relation of causality between prophetism, specially the prophetic denunciation of social injustices, and the persecution and martyrdom of Latin American Christians. To reach this goal, we base ourselves on Rev 11,1-13, a passage where the prophetic role of the Church and their martyrs is shown on the background of prophetic minister of Israel.